Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for November 09, 2021

No, I’m not…

Pregnant?

The baby daddy?

“Getting any” later?

Need to be more specific, Brad…

Yeah BABY!!!

How exciting! A Theme of the Week.

Just to be clear, badgering Toni into having a baby when she does not want to is abuse every bit as much as punching her in the face. The authors of the strip have gone beyond funny. They are pushing misogyny here.

What a tasty meal.

… Toni started this avoidant style of conversation. So I get Brad’s dry humor. Yet it’s fair for Toni to shut Brad down -right in front of TJ. No matter how embarrassed, awkward, or uncomfortable Brad gets! Let them know this isnt some dang group project. i cant see anything but red on today’s strip. The audacity!

“Kid stuff.” ✨

No! He’s NOT hinting! Horse feathers!

Brad’s reply opens the door to whatever tomorrow…

Well, if they do learn how to fornicate it and actually get pregnant, I hope they don’t have to live with TJ anymore. Honestly don’t know what the point of that guy is, other than food.

I’m really not liking this pushing of parenthood on Toni, whether Brad is giving subtle hints or not.

Brad you start demanding child Toni will walk out on you.

Brad, let it go. She has always been vague because she KNOWS you might leave if she explicitly says no and has dragged you on through the years on this subject. Her dragging her heels in the dirt is a metaphor for an explicit NO. Either accept your station in life as childless or file for divorce so you could find another life partner who wants the same things as you. I am actually unsure which way you would choose. You could love her so much you’d give up the family you want or want the children so much you’d leave the woman you risked your life for when Dirk threatened you for showing interest in her. As your fan, I’d see you happy in both ways – the right woman and have the kids with her. Toni might be your first love but she was never the right woman for you.

Not very subtle? True Brad, you are not!

Toni has always had a hard time making major decisions. Brad knows what he wants. He wants to be a daddy. He is hoping Toni will decide to have a baby. Many couple go through this.

Neuro-linguistic programming!

Think we will get to see their firefighter tattoos later?

I’m guessing the question was are you ready for a baby

Yes you are whether it’s conscious or not. Baby blues, pre-baby? I think Toni has a fear underneath though.

No, I’m not hinting, is how I took his comment.

Meals like that would indeed explain the expanding paunch around his middle. Ahem.

Oh baby, not you too.

Ok, seriously? This may be “cute” now, but if this keeps up, Brad is going to alienate her.

Scared!

Oh, great, an “I want a baby” storyline. How tedious.

Toni is going to drop that ”NO!” on Brad like a ton of bricks.

Brad wants children. But this is not cool. If I remember correctly, Toni had said that before having children she wanted to have a house all of themselves and some savings. I don’t know if she was serious or if she just said it to put it off because she was afraid of having children. But that was the deal. Brad and Toni need to clear this up and Toni need to tell Brad what she really wants, once for all.

If you’d told me 20 years ago that Brad would be cute one day I’d have gagged

My brother and his wife were married for two years before they decided to try for a baby. My nephew is due at the end of this month.

?? Not what? ????

And the context of this comic is? ¯\("-)/¯

They need their own child! They have already been parents to Shannon!

Yeah, I didn’t get this one either.

So Brad and Toni will have a baby and Luann will be the nanny?

Dirk needs to return…..

Come on Brad, you know you want to. Get rid of the protection.

Toni is not interested in having a baby, Bwad, and you really have no say in the matter. This is one of the “for worse” parts you agreed to. Always choose compatibility over looks.

Subtle, Brad! LOL! <3

So far, no one seems to have commented on Toni’s noncommital look. She didn’t say No, but perhaps she is at least bemused and at best intrigued by Brad’s cute manipulation of the menu.

Nauseating.

Leave the darn woman alone. She’s a person – not a walking womb.

If Brdshtt read the comic of two day ago, he’d get it.

If it were Toni “pressuring” Brad to have a child, many commentors would be throwing negative epithets towards him. Ever since the two of them became a couple, Brad has made it clear he wants children. Toni needs to book a session with whatever therapist Bets sees (hopefully, not Tiff) so she can deal with her hangups. And, yes, there are hangups.

Hint hint

Well I would hope he’s not, or Brad has just become transgender/asexua!.

Let’s see…how about “back off Brad….shut up Brad….get off my back Brad…..drop it Brad…..f*#^ you Brad….” Any of these would work as a reply.

Nice, Brad!

He is not insinuating that he wants a baby.

IMO… couples thinking about getting married ,should discussed everything including children..

Hey! You all know this is a comic strip, right? Not real! Entertainment!

Serious, grounds-for-divorce incompatibility. If he really wants kids, and she doesn’t, someone’s going to lose big time here.

No wonder ’it’s been a long time since….’ The still have Smiley lurking around the house.

“Trying to butter you up,” but really, he is.

I enjoy the banter between Brad and Toni as G+K depict it. They seem to understand each other better than we can hope to, while still staying “in character” on the whole. If the “expressions” on their faces are anything to go by, Toni “gets” that Brad may be trying to (not too subtly) convey a message, and is still thinking over it for now, without getting angry.

Perhaps he was saying he was not hungry……just saying.

I took Toni’s look to say, “Are you trying to send a message?” To which, Brad’s response makes perfect sense.

1. I think that house is too small for another person, even a baby. 2. Which one is going to quit his or her job to care for that baby? (I’m guessing Brad thinks Toni will) 3. Or will TJ become the nanny. 4. They’ve talked about not being able to afford a bigger house but now Brad wants a baby? Does he think they’re free?

Someone wants to be a daddy.

You would think that Shannon would put an end to any ideas about parenthood.

Toni certainly shouldn’t have kids if she doesn’t want any, but Brad probably didn’t want the one they have (Shannon) and he’s been on board with her.

I have no idea what Brad means by “No I’m Not”. I guess maybe Toni does know what he is talking about?

You know, TJ seems to be a great housekeeper (like Alice on the Brady Bunch, or Bub on My Three Sons) but are they paying him? Does he have another job? Doesn’t he own the Fuse? I want to know more about TJ.

Some less than subtle hints here methinks on Brad’s part….

I like capricorn9 s comment above, suggesting that, tatsächlich, Toni might not be the right woman for Brad.

Both cap9 and eladee have written that, facing the prejudice against couples, and women especially, for being childless, that again, tatsächlich, her „beating around the bush“ is a firm and explicit NO to having children.

And while, bis heute, I have had a lot of respect for Brad, what he’s been through and how much he’s grown as a character, these gosh-awful arcs of „he wants but she don’t“ are tearing me apart.

Toni will have kids IF (and when) she ever decides to have them.

You can’t compromise on having kids, this is one of the few truly binary decisions we face in life.

Because, as I said gestern, having kids is a decision that, once done, can never be undone.

Are Brad’s ovaries pushing him around?

Brad thought Toni could use a little babying….

Y’all may laugh at the quaintness, but the Catholic Church has it right: pre cana classes before marriage, to discuss the important expectations and desires each party has, including, Are you and spouse on the same page about having children.

Thank goodness people are finally coming to realize that someone else’s sex life is none of their business.

Oh, wait….

If Brad doesn’t end up wearing that dinner,it’s a hopeful sign.

Is it supposed to be heartwarming that Brad is making a grand effort to once again pressure Toni into having a baby she clearly doesn’t want? Maybe the Evanses should look up how well that went for Anthony and Thérèse over at For Better or For Worse.

Don’t forget the oyster appetizers and chocolate cake for desert

Has Toni’s hair always been that long?

Brad is in denial, first trimester thing.

Something tells me the kicker to all this is Toni telling Brad to quit all the hinting, he’s going to be a father sometime next year anyway.

If you wait for the perfect time to have kids, you will never have kids.

Subtle or not, Brad and Toni are being nagged to have kids by people who apparently can’t mind their own damned business!!

That innocent smile on Brad’s face in the last panel’s making me think somethin’s up

She’s already stuck with her niece almost full time, and now he wants her to ditch her job to stay at home with a baby?

I’m guessing we will have a week of these two with their subtle remarks on this topic and where nothing is resolved (we’ve had this before). Then hopefully we can find out if Luann has found another job.

Is it that Brad wants a kid, or is Toni just not “giving it up”? There are many forms of birth control.

Subtle.

You can be offend by anything if you look hard enough. Does any long time reader of this strip really believe that Toni and Brad aren’t very much in love?

Brad makes no sense. We are not mind readers.

Better to adopt.

I’m not into baby vegetables; I like mine full grown.

Hinting? Of course not.

TJ, the ever-reliable troublemaker, strikes again (though one does wonder if Brad might have colluded)….

Still sounds delicious, TJ.

Is he responding to yesterday? Too scary? Confused…

Preview: First, momentary excitement on Brad’s face. Next, alarm on Toni’s face. Lastly, disappointment on Brad’s face. Go to Arcamax if you can’t wait.

Mmm, Shannon-back ribs! Now they have to make a new kid to keep the strip going!